


all i can do is just make it through the night

by inkfiction



Series: 30 Kisses: List Beta - Hero (Once Upon a Time Misc.) [7]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: 30 Kisses Challenge, F/F, List Beta - Hero, Post-Curse Storybrooke, Pre-Slash, S02E07: Child of the Moon, i mean ruby has an open invitation by the end of it, so i think it's a done deal, some early s2 stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:14:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26049361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inkfiction/pseuds/inkfiction
Summary: Post-curse Storybrooke. Ruby’s first full moon. Prompt ‘Sanctuary’.
Relationships: Evil Queen | Regina Mills/Red Riding Hood | Ruby
Series: 30 Kisses: List Beta - Hero (Once Upon a Time Misc.) [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1688929
Comments: 6
Kudos: 45





	all i can do is just make it through the night

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for S2E07 ‘Child of the Moon’ back when it aired but I never put it up. So here you go. I'm cleaning out cobwebs from my closets.

The rays of the full moon hit her pale face and she woke with a start. Even before the awareness of her surroundings could begin to set in, a wild and sudden longing to reach for the moon permeated every pore of her being.

She wanted to arch her body and howl at the bright silver ball in the sky; she wanted to run until all she could feel were the cool moonbeams across her fevered skin and the night air full of sharp, bright night smells rushing past her face — but her hands and feet were chained to the huge tree behind her. 

She felt a growl escape her as she rattled the heavy chains and looked longingly up at the moon.

“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” said an amused voice from somewhere in front of her, and she fixed her silver-ringed eyes ahead, searching the shadows until she spotted the source and watched a figure step out into the clearing.

 _“Witch!”_ she snarled.

“Oh, please,” said Regina. “If we’re stripping down to base names, remember I have quite a few to call you which are much more degrading than ‘witch’ — although they might rhyme with it.”

A shadow passed over the moon and she shivered, eyes fixed on Regina as she stepped forward in her dark, tailored suit and pristine white shirt.

“If you want to live, I suggest you disappear back into that hidey-hole of yours!” Ruby spat at her.

“Really, dear, must you be so crass?” Regina stopped just shy of the point where Ruby’s chains allowed her to move.

Ruby bared her teeth, and looked up at the moon, waiting. Regina laughed.

“You are not going to transform if you keep looking at the moon.” Ruby cocked her head. “Unless you want to,” Regina went on. “Unless you really, really want to. Which,” Regina looked her up and down, “apparently you don’t.”

“What do you mean if I want to? That’s why they’ve chained me. I don’t have a choice.”

“But you do. This, my dear, is my gift to you.”

“Gift?”

Regina inclined her head and Ruby frowned.

“What have you done to me?”

“Did you really think I’d let you roam free every month as a werewolf when my son is as close to you as he is?”

“How can you—?”

“Magic is unpredictable in Storybrooke, yes — but that doesn’t mean I cannot mold it to my liking if I want to.”

“But Gold said it wasn’t possible! He said he couldn’t exorcise the wolf out of me.”

“Exorcise, really, dear. Your choice of words is — horrifying,” Regina said, a faint expression of distaste flickering across her face. “As is the very fact that you went to Gold for help. What was his price? A lock of your hair? Your skin? Did he ask for a favor?”

“He owed me one!”

“Did he, now?” Regina raised surprised eyebrows. “Maybe, Miss Lucas, you aren’t as hopeless as I thought.”

“As if _you_ never have a hidden agenda!”

“Oh, there’s nothing hidden about my agenda. I’ve spelled it loud and clear for you.”

Ruby’s expression warred between angry and hopeful.

“You’re telling me I can — I can control it?”

A faint smirk appeared on Regina’s lips. “Only if you don’t let it control _you_.”

“And you’ve done this for me out of the goodness of your heart?”

“I’ve done this for my son’s safety.”

“Forgive me if I refuse to believe you!” Ruby spat.

Regina looked away. “I assure you that was my intention. To make Storybrooke a sanctuary for my son. And you.”

“And that was your only intention, really?” Ruby almost scoffed.

“Well…” Regina drew it out. “There might have been some other — advantages in my mind, yes, but let’s take it one step at a time, don’t you agree?”

“What do you mean?” Ruby frowned.

“Well, all Evil Queens need a pet wolf sometimes.”

Ruby snarled in reply, straining at her chains, the angry flush on her face clearly visible in the moonlight.

“Maybe I _will_ let it control me for a while until I am done with you!”

“Really? We’re doing this?” Regina’s eyes flicked to her chains.

“If you think these chains of theirs can keep a werewolf bound at full moon, you need to think again, witch!”

This time it was Regina who snarled. A flick of her wrist had the younger woman pinned against the broad tree trunk; Regina stepped forward slowly, eyes obsidian and glittering in the moonlight, until she was nose to nose with Ruby, who bared her teeth, unable to do anything else.

“Do not, for a second, think I will be defenseless against you, Miss Lucas. Even at this very moment,” she placed a hand on the werewolf’s chest, right above her heart. “I can rip your heart out, make you my pet for eternity. Or,” she pushed her hand deeper, fingers full of intent, and Ruby’s breath stuck in her lungs. “I can crush it to dust. Hell, I can turn you to dust in an instant if I want!”

“Then why don’t you?” Ruby growled, her breath sticking in her throat.

Regina gave her an inscrutable look and removed her hand, and Ruby could breathe again. Until Regina raised her hand again and traced Ruby’s jawline with a finger.

Ruby’s breath caught in her throat again. She tried to move her face away from Regina’s touch but could barely move an inch.

Regina looked at her for a long moment and then, abruptly, leaned forward and kissed her, hard, leaving Ruby gasping when she pulled away.

“What!” Ruby said breathlessly.

“Interesting. You kissed back.”

Ruby exploded. “I’m _not_ going to be your—”

Regina silenced her with a flick of her finger.

“We can discuss that arrangement — if there is any — later, in broad daylight, preferably. Now,” Regina leaned forward to place an almost chaste kiss on Ruby’s lips. “I think I’ll leave you here—”

“You can’t do that!”

Regina smirked in reply. “I think I can.”

“If I’m not going to transform, I don’t need these chains!”

Regina’s grin was absolutely wicked.

“You need to practice, dear.”

“Practice?”

“Practice,” Regina nodded, tapping a finger against Ruby’s lips and smirking before she turned around.

“If you manage to get out of these chains, you know where to find me,” she said and melted back into the shadows she had come from, leaving Ruby to glare at the moon.


End file.
